Warning
by iLUVfire
Summary: The fight to end all fights.The day i discovered love DOESNT conquer all. The day my friends and I were sent to Camp Green Lake. and yes, it is a girls at green lake fic, get used to it.
1. are we there yet?

Warning

Summary: ok, so my friends and I have been in gang sort of thing since we were freshmen. We never got into much trouble, but then there was the fight to end all fights. The day I discovered love doesn't conquer all. The day my friends and I were sent to Camp Green Lake. The day our lives changed forever.

Me: god, now doesn't that make you want to read? And yes, this is one of the "girl goes to Green Lake and raises Hell" stories. Sort of… On with the story!

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I stared out the window, wondering when in HELL we were going to get to that goddamned camp in the middle of freaking nowhere. My friends sat in seat ranged around the bus, talking (Amanda and Noelia), dozing (Julia), staring out the window (John, Julia's older brother) or thinking (me, Salem). Julia had black hair, blue eyes and a creepy attitude. Amanda had red hair and blue eyes. Noelia had brown hair and eyes. I have black hair and green eyes. I was the leader. Always in control, even over adults. My black hair was long, near the middle of my back, but it was in a bun under my hat. My nose had a small stud in it. John had black hair as well; only his was long for a boy, going to his shoulders. It curled like crazy near the bottom. Julia's hair went past her butt, and she had dyed a purple streak in it before we got arrested.

I snapped out of my reverie when John kicked me in the foot. I looked over at him, across the aisle. He grinned his vampire smile at me. It gave me shivers…

"You ok?" he asked. "You had your deep thought face on again." I nodded.

"Just thinking, I guess. Thinking about how freaking long we're going to be here."

"At least we're all here. Well, most of us." He said. I looked down. My brother, Richard, had been killed in the fight we were sent to this camp for. I wiped the tears from my eyes awkwardly with my cuffed hands and turned to face Julia.

"Yo." I said. "You still alive back there?" Julia sleepily glared at me, another thing I couldn't master that my friends had. The death glare ala Julia. I stuck my tongue out at her, always the mature leader, and turned to face Amanda and Noelia. "Whatcha talking about guys?" I asked. Noelia cackled and turned red. I cocked an eyebrow.

"Noelia was just quietly raving about how hot John is again." Amanda said, grinning. I rolled my eyes. Noelia grinned at me sheepishly. I turned in my seat to look at my best friend again. With his dark hair, vampire smile and dark eyes, he was kinda hot.

_AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! BAD THOUGHTS! LIKE A BROTHER! AAARRRRGGGHHHH! BLECHH!_ I thought, falling backward onto the seat. John cracked up, and so did Amanda. Julia cracked a grin, and Noelia had fallen onto the floor when I shouted. John was wiping tears from his eyes as he stopped laughing. The guard glared at us.

"We're here." He grunted. John sniggered. We all stood up, groaning as the muscles in our legs stretched out from the 8-hour drive. We grabbed our duffel bags, John's black one, my apple green one, Amanda's red one, Julia's purple one, and Noelia's Ramones one. We all trooped out the door, looking around at the compound. There was a bunch of tents, some buildings, and a cabin in the back. There was a car near the cabin that John was ogling at. I rolled my eyes and smacked him in the chest with my handcuffed hands. He shook his head and grinned at me.

"Nice car." He breathed. I rolled my eyes. We all followed the guard over to a small cabin. We all sighed when the air conditioning hit us.

The first thing we saw was this old, gay looking cowboy with a stupid cowboy hat on. He had his feet on the desk and was snoring like a bear. We all walked in. John pulled out the chair awkwardly for me, and I slumped down into it. The rest of the gang grouped around me.

The guard smacked his hand on the desk, jerking the gay cowboy awake. He snorted. There was gun in his hand suddenly, right at my nose. I stared at it, my eyes narrowed. John tensed behind me. I shook my head. The gay cowboy pulled his gun back and glared at me. I glared back at him, glare for glare. He snorted again and took some files out of a drawer. He flung them on the table. I stared at them. There was one for Amanda, John, Julia, Noelia, and me. The gay cowboy motioned to the guard, who came forward with a key in his hand. He uncuffed me and my friends, grunting when we thanked him.

"So." The cowboy drawled. Apparently Amanda couldn't resist.

"So what?" she said. I snickered. I smiled my mafia smile, something my godfather had taught me. And I do have mafia family. The cowboy snarled.

"My name is Mr. Sir; you will address me as such at all times, are we clear?" Mr. Sir said. John saluted with his middle finger. I laughed. The guard sat forward and smacked John across the head. At least he tried. Julia's hand was on his wrist in a second, her green eyes boring into his.

"Don't touch my brother." She growled. She only used that voice when she was really pissed off, and she seemed to be. The guard shook his hand away and nodded once. Mr. Sir rolled his eyes. He stood. I stood as well.

"Did I tell you to stand?" he snapped. I crossed my arms.

"No, but I want to." I said. He glared at me under his hat. I sneered at him and followed as he led us all out into the searing heat again. We all groaned.

"Shut up. You live here now, for the next 2 years. And I live here too, so do NOT piss me off, understand?" Mr. Sir said, shoving his face into John's. John nodded, although the cowboy had to have really bad breath. The gay cowboy growled. "Tell me, kids, what do you see? You see any electric fence? Any armed guards? 'Sides me? Know why? Cuz if you run, its a weeks' walk from here to the nearest town. You'd be buzzard food before we even noticed you was gone." He sneered at us all and turned. He led us to a different shack near the "administrations building". We walked in. on the shelves were dozens of orange jumpsuits. I grimaced. I hate orange. Mr. Sir began chucking stuff at us like jumpsuits, boots, goggles, gloves, canteens and extra socks. I picked a pair of socks up, cocking an eyebrow. Mr. Sir pointed at the socks.

"Trust me; you'll need 'em." I nodded. "Now the warden said the girls had to change behind a curtain, since here we only have boys. And we can't search you for," pause "womanly reasons." Mr. Sir grumbled. I grinned inwardly. I had tons of stuff in my bag on one would let into a detention camp. But he pointed at John. "But you change. One of you girlies go behind that curtain there." He chucked an orange jumpsuit at Amanda, who caught it. She looked disgruntled that she couldn't wear her jersey, but she ducked behind the curtain anyway.

Noelia grinned as John took of his black shirt. I cocked an eyebrow. John may be a like brother to me, but he is hot. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when his shirt was finally off. HE HAD THE SEXIEST CHEST I HAD EVER SEEN! Then I smacked my inner perv in the head and went back to planet normal. John had his pants off now, and Amanda was back from the changing curtain. Mr. Sir chucked a jump suit at Noelia, and she went behind the curtain. I tried not to stare at John's ass, but I caught myself looking at least once. I shook my head and ignored the weird feeling in my chest when he winked at me from under his hair. I pulled the flat brim of my favorite apple green baseball cap to cover my blush. The next thing I knew, there was an orange jumpsuit in my arms and I was behind the curtain. I shook my head and pulled my hat off. My hair tumbled down my back, and I pulled off my shirt. I worked it around my hair, grumbling about how I could never go to a barber and we never had scissors. I had the jumpsuit on in a matter of seconds, choosing to keep the arms tied around my waist and keep my tank top on. I pulled on my combat boots, choosing to chuck Mr. Sir's boots back at him when I walked out. John ogled. He had never seen me in anything skin-tight.

Then I heard the worst thing to hit my ears since Brittany spears.

"Well hello there! Large group this time?" someone said. I bet it was some short guy with too much sunscreen on his nose. I heard John snigger behind me. I turned.

_I knew it!_ I thought. The man in front of us _was_ short, with too-short shorts on, with some stupid looking sweater vest on over a tee shirt. His sandals had socks on under them, and he had WAY too much sunscreen on his nose. And I think it was pink…

"Well, hi there! My name is Mr. Pendanski. It's fairly easy to remember, pen dances with key. And what is your name?" Mr. Pen-dances-with-key said, sticking out hand to me. I cocked a hip. Noelia had to shove a fist in her mouth not to laugh. I put on a really fake looking preppy smile and grasped the counselor's hand in both of mine.

"My name is Salem Marianna Way! And I am just tickled pink to make your acquaintance, SIR!" I said, sarcasm dripping from my words. The counselor grinned and went to shake Noelia's hand. I looked at John. He was making faces at the gay looking counselor. I whacked him in the chest a little too hard and came back with bruised knuckles. He looked down at me, his index fingers hooked into the corners of his mouth. He cocked an eyebrow, giving me that "what me?" look the best he could. I rolled my eyes and stepped on his foot as Pendanski came around to shake his hand. John grinned as goofily as I had, and then that stupid counselor showed us around camp. I didn't pay attention. Noelia would be, and she'd tell me. The last part I heard though.

"And this is where you will be staying. There are some sex offenders here, ladies, so I suggest this young man comes with you when you need to shower. Anyway, this is D-tent, D is for diligence!" Pendanski said, gesturing wildly to a greenish orange ten that looked exactly like the others except for the giant "D" on the sides and front.

"Yeah, D is also for death, demolition, disregard, distortion, devils, demons, and dorks!" I whispered. John chuckled.

"Oh, good, some of the boys are back! Boys, I'd like you to meet your new tent mates!" Pendanski shouted. He held the door-flap-thingy open for us. John went first, because he was the only guy. Then I waltzed in under his arm, grinning wildly. I saw one skinny black boy with glasses, one tall blonde boy with crazy hair, and one brown-haired boy with a toothpick in his mouth. I thought those were the only goons in there, but there was one more. A small black head flopped out from under a pillow, with the craziest mop of curls I have ever seen. The tiny kid can't have only been more that 12! Much less old enough to be in this detention camp. The others trooped in behind me, and the boys in the tent ogled. "Rex, Ricky, Zero, Alan, these are your new tent mates! Yes, some are girls, but be nice. This is their first detention camp way out here in the desert. Now, I'll be back at lights out, be good!" Pendanski shouted, leaving us with the morons in the tent. The guys in the tent nodded at the stupid counselor then stared at us.

"Who're you?" the black boy with glasses said. Mary spoke up.

"We're your new tent mates, didn't Gaydanski tell you?" she said. That earned a laugh from the boys, except the small one in the back. The black one with glasses stood and walked forward, reaching out a hand to John.

"I'm X-ray. And these goons are Squid and Zigzag. Like I said before, who are you? Names, ages, how you got in, that kind of thing." He came forward to shake my hand and grinned. I grabbed his hand in my death grip, something only I can do, thank you very much. The black boy yelped and jumped back.

"Oops, did I hurt you?" I purred, batting my eyes. The black boy snarled at me, holding his hand, which was turning kind of red. "I'm Salem, the big lug behind me is John, the red head is Amanda, the creepy one is Julia, and the one with the brown hair is Noelia. Now are there more?" I said. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around. There were 4 more boys behind me, one big black boy, one Hispanic one, one small twitchy one, and one brown haired boy with blue eyes. The brown haired one stuck a hand out to me.

"Hi. I'm Caveman. And you are?" he asked. I stuck my hand out slowly.

"I'm Salem." I said. The others introduced themselves, and I found out that the Hispanic one was Magnet, the twitchy one was Twitch (big surprise) and the big black boy was Armpit.

"Where do we set up our stuff?" Noelia asked. X-ray pointed to a bunch of cots near the end of the tent.

"There." He said. I nodded my thanks and headed over to one near a small flap that served as a window. We were allowed to bring our own sheets, and I spread out my apple green ones easily, although Zigzag offered to help me. After everything was on my bed right, I pulled a pillowcase onto my pillow. I ducked under my bed to find three crates. I pulled one out to unload my clothes, toiletries, and a bunch of other junk. I then pulled out a cigar box covered in pictures of my friends and me. I opened it and put it on the box that served as a bedside table. On the inside lid was a picture of Teacher, the man who taught us everything. He was Julia and John's dad, and he died in the gang fight that took Richard. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned. Noelia was behind me, with the rest of the gang grouped behind me. John's head was bowed, and he seemed to be praying. Julia had tears in her eyes and was sitting on her bed, the sheet bunched in her hands, actually showing emotion for once. I blinked some tears out of my eyes. I stood. We all looked up and around at each other. John held my eyes for longer than normal, then looked away abruptly.

"Who's the dork in the cigar box?" I heard Squid say behind me. I turned, anger filling my eyes now.

"He's the man who taught us everything, the man who raised us, the man who made sure we didn't die before our time! He couldn't make sure all of us lived, but he broke his back making sure most of us did! Now I don't want to hear you talk about him again farm boy!" I snarled. John had to hold me back from hurting him, and when I said _farm boy_, Zigzag lunged forward to hold back Squid. I relaxed in defeat, and Squid wrestled loose of Zigzag's stranglehold.

"What is there to do here, anyway?" I asked. The boys looked at each other and all said at the same time,

"The wreck room." I nodded.

"Ok then, let's go to the wreck room."

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End chappie

Me: so what you thinking? I'll have the next chappie up soon enough, so yeah.


	2. pool and pillow fights

Chapter two: inside John's head

Me: yo. Wazzup?

Mary: BANANA SLEEVES!

Me: aw, shit, Mary got into my studio ::whistles through her fingers:: Warren! Will! Get her out for here!

Warren and Will run in, well, Will flies, but whatever. They each grab an arm and pull. She allows herself to be dragged out, laughing crazily.

Me with an anime anger mark on my forehead: ok, who gave her Pocky? AGAIN? Ok, after that fiasco, lets get on with it.

Disclaimer: crud. I forgot this last chappie. Oops… Ok, never mind. I don't own holes, I juts own my OC's. Except they are based on my friends, so I don't even own them. Wahh! I'm all alone! Wait, I invented Salem! Whoha!

(John's point of view)

Salem said that we should go to the wreck room. Whatever that was. I wasn't paying attention when "Gaydanski" as Noelia so affectionately called him, showed us around. I followed next to Salem in our usual flying V pattern, Amanda behind me, Julia, and Noelia on the other side of Salem. She followed the d-tent guys to the wreck room, talking with Zigzag about something. I couldn't hear her. She looked back at me once, and I grinned at her. She smiled back and ducked her head.

_She's so beautiful. That perfect hair, those emerald eyes. I'm so in… love. But I can't. She's the leader, and my dad raised all of us. I'm like her brother. _I thought._ But I want to be more._ I shook my head as Amanda said something to me.

"wait, what?" I said, turning to her. She grinned lightly.

"Man, its obvious you're in love with Salem. Just go up to her and ask if something more can happen between you. It's not that hard!" she whispered to me. I sighed and swung my hair into my face.

"Super Hot Italian Tortellini!" Salem shouted. "What is THIS?" I looked up, and my jaw dropped. We were in a room where a beat up TV was sitting on a rickety table, a pool table with more etchings in it than felt, and a bunch of beat up weights were sitting around. Boys slumping around on the couches, chairs and stools looked up at Salem's scream. Catcalls and whistles filled the air, and stopped as D-tent and I glared around the room. The boys went back to whatever they were doing, whether it was trying to fix the old, dilapidated TV or lifting weights or whatever.

"Anyone up for pool? Chicas? New guy?" Magnet said. I grinned at Noelia. She grinned back, nodding. We were the best pool players in our old town in San Fran. I taught her everything she knows about pool, and my dad taught me.

"I am." I said.

"Me too." Noelia said, walking over to where the pool ques were. We grabbed one each and walked back over to the pool table. I glanced over at Salem, who had taken a book out of her pocket. I recognized the weathered blue cover as her copy of "A wrinkle in time". She glanced up, as if sensing my gaze and winked over the book at me. I turned around to face the pool table after sticking my tongue out at her.

_Real mature John. She's really into you. _I thought. I rolled my eyes as Magnet broke. I lined up my shot and focused on the game.

After an hour or two

Noelia and I had won our 7th game of pool after a few hours. Julia went over to Zigzag and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, and Julia was right up in his face. She walked her hand up his shoulder, and he shivered. I'd seen her do that before, but only a few times. She needed something, or she just wanted to mess with him. It's usually the second one. She whispered something into his ear, and he paled, then passed out on the floor with a thump. I cracked up with Amanda. Noelia was bending over from laughing so hard, and the rest of the D-Tent guys cracked up too.

Zigzag woke up with Julia on his chest. She waved at him and he groaned. He dropped his head on the floor and she cackled. A bell rang and D-Tent looked at each other.

"Dinner." They chorused. I heard a clunk. Salem had fallen asleep in her chair, and her book had fallen to the floor. I walked over and picked it up. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, and Zero was behind me, and he nodded to the door. I shook my head.

"I'm not hungry. I'm actually still nauseas from the drive over here. I'll take Salem back to the tent and just hang out there for a while." I said. I walked over to the chair where Salem was sleeping. I waved Zero out, and he shrugged and left, never speaking. I scooped Salem up, bride style, and instead of waking, she snuggled into my chest, murmuring something. I had trouble not just standing there staring at her forever.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. I walked to the tent with her, watching the darkness creep into the camp.

I set her down on her bed. She turned over, slinging her arm over my shoulder, murmuring something. I smiled.

"John." She muttered. I put my hand on her shoulder. "No, not John. Anyone but him, no!" I started to shake her shoulder. She gasped and sat up, knocking me back. I grunted, hitting the floor hard.

"Eeek! John, are you ok?" she asked, swinging her head over the edge for the bed. I sat up, freezing. My eyes had locked with hers, and the emerald-ness just caught me. She stared at me, and I stared back.

"John?" she asked.

"Yea?" I said wittily.

"How did I get back to the tent?" she asked. I laughed and shook my head.

"You fell asleep in an armchair and I carried you back here. I grabbed your book, don't worry!" I said, laughing at her scared look. She grinned and flopped onto the bed. I stood, sat on the edge of her bed, and made a face at her. She laughed, and I grinned. I loved making her laugh.

We started talking, then a few minutes later the others walked in. Dinner must have been nasty, cuz Amanda, Julia and Noelia looked positively green. I laughed.

"Nasty, guys?" Salem asked. Noelia glared at her. Salem cracked up.

"Yeah, you get used to it. I was surprised X didn't take anyone's bread, cuz on my first night here he jacked mine." Caveman said. X-ray shrugged.

"you don't take food from a lady. It's just not done." He said. All the other guys in the tent yelled and threw their pillows at him. He yelled and ducked, trying to protect himself from the onslaught of pillows. Amanda shot Salem a look that I knew meant danger. They grinned.

_Uh-oh._

"PILLOW FIGHT!!" they screamed, leaping at Zigzag's head, pillows in hand. I yelled, grabbing my pillow off of my bed. I headed for the middle of the room, ducking Magnet's pillow, jumping over Armpit's foot and swinging my pillow at Caveman's head. I made contact, and Caveman fell forward with an "oof!" We fell to the floor, yelling. I rolled off of Caveman's back and surveyed the battle before me. I leaped up and swung at X-ray's head. He turned in time to see me and ducked. He was standing in front of the door flap though, and we hadn't seen Pendanski come in. So when X ducked, my pillow collided with Pendanski's face…instead of the back of X's head.

I froze and dropped the pillow. Pendanski looked a little shocked.

"I am **so** sorry, Mr. Pendanski, I didn't see you, we were just having-" he held up a hand.

"Who started all of this mess?" he asked. I turned around. Salem started to raise her hand.

"I did, Mr. P." I said. Salem looked stunned.

"Really, John? You seemed like the kind of person who didn't want trouble. For a boy in detention camp, that is. I realize that it was just a little fun, and that it is your first night here, so I will let you off with a warning. But next time something goes awry, you will be the first one to be blamed. Do I make myself clear?" he said. I nodded. "Good. Now I came in here to tell you all that it is lights out. Girls, if you have pajamas that you would like to change into; we had a curtain installed while the boys were out digging their holes. There are ties that one of you can undo. Goodnight." And with that, he turned around and marched out of the tent. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and looked down at X. his eyes were wide under his huge glasses.

"Damn, man, I thought you were in for a visit to the warden." I held out my hand. He grabbed my hand and I pulled him up. "Nice swing, though." I laughed. "And you guys never answered my question."

"Which one?"

"How you got in and how old you are." I looked over at Salem. She bit her lip and nodded. "Get comfortable. This is gonna take a while."

Me: so? What did you think? No, don't tell me, just review!


	3. FLASHBACK

Warning: chapter three: explanations

Me: read. Review. That's all I have to say...yeah...

Salem's point of view 

I climbed onto one of the beds, pulling my legs to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. John sat down next to me. He sighed, then looked me in the eye.

"You ready to open up?" he asked. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"As long as you're here with me." I said.

Then the lights went out.

"Shit. Lights out." I heard Magnet say. "Guess you'll have to tell us tomorrow, Chicas and new guy." I exhaled very quickly.

_Thank god._ I thought. I got up from the bed where I was sitting and headed over toward mine. I grabbed my pajamas from my duffel and flung my hat on the floor. I walked towards the curtain thing to join Noelia, Amanda and Julia. I pushed through the curtain and walked towards the back. I pulled off my jumpsuit and pulled on my pajama bottoms. I bunched up the jumpsuit in my hands and felt tears come to my eyes. I fell to the floor, my body wracked by sobs. My mind was back in the empty lot where Richard and Teacher had died.

FLASHBACK 

I was standing next to Richard and Noelia, Teacher in front of me. The gang in front of us was from another school from across town, and they HATED us. We had done nothing to them except come onto their "turf" to go to the arcade one night. And apparently their leader had gotten shot that same night, and they blamed us for it. They had challenged us to this "brawl" tonight, and we had shown on time, unarmed, but they were a half hour late, and had knives. I wasn't really in charge then, just second in command, higher in rank than John and Julia, who were Teacher's kids.

"I told you, Franki, we had nothing to do with Kevin's death. We were just at the arcade. We thought you wouldn't care-"

"Wouldn't care? Wouldn't care if you came onto our turf? And then killed Kevin? I don't think so, dumb ass. Now, you pay." And then he and the others in the gang rushed him, stabbing, slashing, jets of blood bursting form Teacher as he let them cut his flesh away.

"NO!" I heard someone scream. I tried to rush into the blood bath, but I stopped as Richard jumped at one of them with a yell, falling onto his back. The man grunted and swung Richard onto the ground. I heard a crunch as Richard cried out. The man then kneeled on Richard's arms, just above the elbows and drove his knife into his stomach and chest over and over again. I snarled and reached into my boot for the pocketknife I always had in there. I flipped open a blade and ran over to the man on top of Richard. I jumped as I got to them and drove my heels into his neck. He grunted and fell off of Richard, who lay there, bleeding and breathing shallowly. I sobbed and threw the blade at the man who had stabbed Richard. It hit him in the throat and he fell back with a gurgle. I grabbed my knife and stood. John was locked in hand to hand with one of the slime balls from the rival gang, as were Noelia and Amanda. Julia had just kicked the knife out of one of their hands and had punched him in the mouth. Teacher was on the ground in a puddle of blood. I had a choice. Save Richard, or save Teacher. I yelled and ran towards Teacher. He reached out towards me with a hand that was newly missing fingers. I knelt next to him, smiling slightly and fighting the tears back. He grabbed my hand.

"Salem Way, I have taught you everything I know. I am going to die tonight, and I leave everything I have to you. The house, that car, and this." He reached into his jacket with a groan and handed me his prized possession, his wife's wedding ring. His wife died soon after Julia was born. I had heard stories about her dozens of times when Teacher had a little too much to drink. She sounded wonderful. The ring was real gold and had an emerald in the middle and rubies all around it. On the inside was and inscription, "Wherever I am, I will always think of you".

"I give you this because I will always think of you Salem. You were my first runaway to be taken in. Keep," he shuddered "Keep John and Julia out of trouble." He closed his eyes. He exhaled and then his grip on my hand released. I looked up, tears of anger, sadness and disbelief in my eyes. I saw the on who had led the attack. His knife was on the ground.

**I could kill him.**

I leapt to my feet, flicking open my blade. I ran towards him, snarling low in my throat, I leapt into the air, yelling, and brought the blade down into his back. Blood gushed forth, warm and red under my hand. I pulled the knife free and plunged it in again and again. I could feel the life flowing out of him with each time I stabbed. Then strong arms circled me from the back and suddenly I was crying, the anger gone. I don't remember much after that. The next clear memory was at the trial.

"So, Salem, is it?" the judge asked.

"Yes, your honor." I answered.

"Alright. You almost killed that man. Because you are only 16, you wont be charged as an adult. I could either separate you and your friends in different detention facilities all over California," I looked up, horrified. The judge held up his hand. " OR, I could send all of you to a detention camp in Texas. There is one catch though. The camp is usually for boys only." I looked up again.

Boys only, hunh? Gonna be some rapists and abusers… 

"When can we leave?"

END FLASHBACK 

"Salem?" I heard from far away. I opened my eyes.

Blinding light fried my retinas.

"AGH! Turn the fucking light off!"

"She's fine." I heard John say.

"What happened?" I asked, cracking open my eyes.

"You went to change, and then we heard Amanda screaming for help. We found you on the floor, twitching and sobbing. You've been out cold for an hour." I heard Caveman say. "John carried you in here. Mom thinks you just were dehydrated and kinda traumatized."

"Mom?" I said.

"The boys like to call me mom. Its part of their little nicknames ritual. I prefer to call them the names that society will recognize them by when they rejoin the real world. You may call me mom if you wish, Salem." I opened my eyes all the way, blinking repeatedly. I sat up and saw that I was in another small shack, but this one had a bed and a cabinet with a red cross on it. I think it was the nurse's shack. Amanda and Noelia were sitting on the ground next to Magnet; Caveman, Zigzag, Squid and Julia were all sitting on a table near the front of the room, X and Twitch were standing next to Armpit, Pendanski and Mr. Sir. And John was sitting in a chair next to the bed I was sitting on. He looked really worried. He smiled at me.

"You ready to go back to the tent?" he asked. I nodded. I stood, and the room spun. I fell into John, and he steadied me. I shook my head and started to head for the door.

"come on you guys, I'm tired."

_**END CHAPPIE**_


	4. a few explanations

Chapter four: sleep, darkness and a whole freakin' lota dust.

Me: so, now you have the fight, John's secret, and the beginning. So lets get it on with, shall we?

(Amanda's POV)

Salem stumbled out of the shack and into the dark night. Noelia and I rushed after her, catching her right before she fell to the ground. She shook her head and looked at us.

"Guys," She said. "I…I cant…I don't…Just…Just get me back to the tent, I need sleep." She sighed and dropped her head. Then arms came out of nowhere and scooped her out of our grasp. I turned and saw John cradling her like that kitten we had three years ago. She looked up at him with the same stunned expression I knew I was wearing. He started to walk towards the tent, pretty much ignoring everyone else. I looked at Noelia. She shrugged and followed John. I saw the rest of D-tent come out of the nurse's shack. X had a funny look on his face and Armpit looked half asleep. I gestured for them to follow us to the tent. X shrugged too and followed us out. I heard someone come up behind me. I turned to see Caveman behind me.

"Do you know what happened?" he asked. I stopped and looked at him. He turned around when he realized I wasn't with him anymore.

"I'm not sure Salem even really knows what happened. She has these episodes sometimes, but we don't have enough money to go to a hospital to get her checked out. We think it's some hereditary thing because Richard had a bit of a twitch." I started to walk again. Caveman fell into step with me, the pair of us in the back of the group.

"So what's their relationship like?" Caveman asked, nodding toward John and Salem. I laughed.

"Now that's gonna take some explaining." I said. Caveman looked at me funny. "John's dad was the one that pretty much raised all of us. John and Julia are his kids. Well, they were. He died in the fight that got us here. He took in Salem when she was 9. She was the first kid he took in off the streets. Her brother Richard, who died in the fight as well, came about a month later, from what they told me. Noelia was the last one he took in. I came about a year after Salem and Richard. He taught us all hand-to-hand and knife fighting. John and Salem are closest in age. They have only about a week between them. Everyone else, including me, is about a year younger." Caveman whistled.

"Intense." He murmured.

"You have no idea." I said. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised. I sighed. "We went to a psychic a few months ago, yes, we believe they work. Well, Teacher did. Moving on…"

_**FLASHBACK**_

I turned the corner out of the kitchen, holding a glass of soda. I walked into the hallway, and the glass shattered on the floor. Salem was lying on the floor, twitching and sobbing. I screamed for Teacher, Richard, John, anyone. I kneeled next to Salem, grabbing her hand, telling her to hold on, she groaned and curled into a ball around my hand. John and Richard came around the corner and Teacher came down the stairs. Richard yelped and tried to pick Salem up off the floor, but she was too heavy for him.

"I got her, Richard." John said. He scooped her up into his arms and started to head for the front door. Teacher yelled for everyone else to head for the van. I scampered after Julia, who had popped up out of the living room.

"What happened?" she asked. I explained as we got into the van.

"Teacher, where are we going?" Noelia asked. Teacher turned very sharply, trying to avoid a bicyclist. We all fell into each other, yelling.

"Sorry, everyone." Teacher said. Grumbles came from Richard and Julia. Teacher skid into a parking place in front of a purple building squished between a soup kitchen and a movie rental store. Teacher leaped out of the car. Richard gave the purple building a weird look.

"I know," is aid as he opened his mouth "'_I have a very bad feeling about this._'" He grinned sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and clambered out of the car. John was standing outside the door with Salem still in his arms. She wasn't twitching anymore, but she was still sobbing. I walked up next to them and looked up at the sign.

"Madame Joolzan's psychic readings. Hooboy. This is gonna be interesting.

_**END FLASHBACK**_

"Yeah. The psychic said that she had inner troubles and conflict between her… well, I don't really remember, I was outside. I heard that stuff. John knows the entire thing, he and Julia were inside with Teacher. They don't really talk about it much. Salem and Julia are really close friends." I looked up at Caveman. He was staring at his feet.

"It really sucks that the guy that raised you is dead. And Salem's brother too. Man, I'd have mental problems too." We had gotten to the tent. Caveman walked ahead of me and held open the flap. I smiled at him and walked in. John and Salem were talking in a corner and most of the original D-Tent guys were out cold in their cots. The rest of my gang was all clustered around Salem's cot. John hugged Salem and they walked over to our group, which I had joined. Salem wiped some residual tears from her eyes and sat next to me. I put an arm around her shoulders as we all stacked our fists, our usual bedtime thing.

"All for one." Salem whispered.

"One for all." We whispered in unison. Then we went to bed.

_**END CHAPPIE**_


End file.
